Paul's Multi-Year Ride Ataxia Chronicles

2010-12-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

My last post was on May 17, right after the 2010 NorCal Ride Ataxia, now it's 6+ months later and this last weekend I did the 1st annual SoCal Ride Ataxia. The two rides are very different; 100 miles vs. 80 miles, the sunny Sierra's vs. the cloudy Highway 1 south of Long Beach, and a 2,333 foot elevation rise vs. 213 feet! lol In common the two rides shared wonderful people bound in a common purpose, outstanding food both at the rest stops and at the Outback Restaurant provided meals, and at least for me 2 days of riding that left me emotionally and physically drained. Below is a chronology of the SoCal Ride Ataxia.

Ride Prep: I continue to average one 23 mile ride a week with a riding buddy, not really enough to sail through any 40 mile ride but better than the alternative of less to none! lol

Thursday, December 2.
The morning was spent in last minute errands. Mid afternoon found me at my brother-in-law's tow company shop for 2+ hours where he graciously undid half the work he had done previously on Brianne's converted wheelchair bike trailer, and re-routed the tow bar from just under the bike seat back down to the frame next to the rear wheel hub. Dinner and final packing and in bed by 10:30pm.

Friday, December 3.
Up at 4:30am to beat the Bay Area morning rush traffic and to reach Long Beach before their evening rush traffic. Tried to sneak around not to wake Susan, who stayed home to do Christmas projects and babysit our 2 youngest grandchildren (Kayden all day Friday, Chelsea Saturday until 4pm-ish when the baton got passed back to Kayden who stayed the night) I wonder who was tireder from the rigors of the weekend?! lol
On the road at 5:15am and on 5 just before 7am with no traffic jams, yess! For the whole trip I set the cruise at 57mph and reaped the reward of 24.5mpg with my 3/4 ton PU diesel. I reached my motel at 1:15pm, got settled and was at the Long Beach Outback Restaurant for pre-registration and to fit a local FA young woman to Brianne's trailer so she and her team could do the Saturday 10 mile course in Dana Point, the 1st day destination for the 2 day riders. I met Kelly and her wonderful friends and family, got her fitted with no problem, then enjoyed the company of the other riders for a bit. Ride starts at 10:30am so I was in bed by 11pm. BTW, there was a huge dog show last weekend so you had to watch where you stepped all over town! Well, at least there were a lot of pampered dogs all over.

Saturday, December 4.
Got to the Outback Restaurant starting point at 9:30am, ditched the truck in a parking garage, and was ready to go by 10am. Awesome Outback continental breakfast with all kinds of biking foods; it would be hard to lose weight on this ride! Weather was iffy and in fact as we started so did the rain, a light intermittent teaser for the first half hour. After that just a cool cloudy day. The route is flat for the first 22 miles and more than half of that is on the beach boardwalk, with the rest on or next to Highway 1. My bike computer was inop for the first 9 miles because Kayden had fiddled with the speedometer sensor a week or two previously and I had forgotten. The first rest stop was a bike shop and he tweaked it back in less than a minute. I think we had a bit of a head wind 'cause my legs were a tad tired even before we hit the 18 miles of coastal hilliness. The last 5 miles my leg muscles were on high alert for cramps and felt like mush. The courtyard of the Double Tree was a welcome sight.
Shortly after I arrived Kelly's team came in and I got a report on the trailer's performance. Flawless she said with a big smile! It made the whole weekend worth it right then. I like it when my FA niece's look happy. Even better Kelly's friend's husband is going to build her one from scratch! So then I hooked the chair to my bike so I could tempt the other FAers to ride in it and maybe do a conversion for themselves. Matt Rupel and Bart gave it a close scrutiny.
Then Lauren Williams asked for a ride "up a hill". Up another hill?? Whew! So OK, all we gotta do is turn right in front of the hotel, there's a little bridge (uphill) and I would pull a U-ee and pedal right back; no sweat. We pop out onto the road, turn right and 30' up the road I realize all the big white arrows on the pavement are pointing toward me! Oops. No traffic; quick U-ee and we're street-legal again. So I figure (on the fly) all I gotta do is go to the next intersection, do a left, left, left and we're back at the hotel. HaHaHaHa, silly boy. I make the first left and discover there are not interconnecting streets for 2+ miles and half of it is up hill! We stopped 3 or 4 folks for directions, Lauren's shoes kept falling off because of the front tie-down strap, she got a heel scrape from the strap ratchet (I wrapped my extra nylon pants around it), a borrowed light jacket put on backwards kept slipping off, daylight was fading (rear blinking light OK, no front light) and it was getting distinctly chilly. It took us nearly an hour to make the big loop and get back! There was a group watching for us! lol By then I was tuckered! And it was 5:30pm with dinner at 6pm and me still in riding gear.
I was on time and the dinner was wonderful; a choice of salmon, steak, chicken and/or shrimp with side dishes, catered by Outback Restaurant. After dinner there were several research presentations that I found really interesting but my body had trouble staying focused on; there were a lot of tired people there. We got an update on HDAC's from Scripps Institute, the EPI 743 from Edison and a new way to detect FA treatment impacts in the brain; cool stuff! Pics at 9am, ride start at 9:30am so in bed at 11pm after taking another set of Advil.

Sunday, December 5.
Up at 7:45am, more Advil, checked out, breakfasted and smilin' for pics by 8:50am. Took off straight into the 18 miles of hills but it was OK, I was fresh. Again the last 5 miles was high alert for cramps. Weather was better with broken clouds. On the ride back my riding time was 3 hours, 5.5 minutes, total time with stops was 4 hours and 10 minutes. Average speed was 13mph, with a max of 33.5mpg (some of those coastal highway 1 downhills were fun!). The route was 40.3 miles long.
So I had a celebratory beer, hugged everyone and left at 3:30pm for home. Arrived at 11:30pm after going through a lightning storm and intermittent rain up 5.

So if you're still with me by now after this lengthy chronicle, thank you. The ride was good, the FA extended family was wonderful and the ride support was enthusiastic and helpful. And by tomorrow (Wednesday) I'll be pretty much recovered. ;-)

My network of financial supporters have already been involved in both NorCal RA and my August Outback Restaurant lunch fundraisers so I didn't even put together a fundraiser page until last week Thursday when a friend on Facebook asked how to get sponsorship money to me, so I quickly put one together, and I see some wonderful folk have used it. If you would like to support me with a post-ride sponsorship by all means go to https://sna.etapestry.com/fundraiser/FriedreichsAtaxiaResearchA/socal/individual.do?participationRef=968.0.287365167

2010-05-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

It's Monday night, and my body still feels like I just did a full triathlon without training! lol My goodness the 51 mile ride back to Folsom from Grass Valley was a bun buster! In any 1 of my 4 days riding from Portland to Seattle it wasn't this tough. It wasn't until I was well into the route that I realized the meaning of +3146/-5417; in order to descend 5,417 feet I had to climb 3,146 feet! And certainly I coasted merrily down many a hill, but it seemed I had to climb way back up at the bottom of each. The day started out at about 55 degrees at 8:30am when we pushed off, but then got to 80+ degrees by 11-ish. At the lunch half-way point Susan was there with the truck and I dived into the sweet coolness of the A/C for a few minutes. Lovely!

With about 20 miles to go and sitting about in the middle of the pack, another 65 year old and I (I'll be 65 on the 30th) paused at the top of a hill, looked at each other and pondered out loud, "What ARE we doing here?!". He asserted and I agreed that there's not enough money to pay us to do this. We decided the answer was love and caring. Love for these FAers and caring that they should not have to live a downward spiral. Research can change that.

During the last 10 miles 2 thoughts kept me (barely) going. All of you, my sponsors, cared enough to support me in this so more money can be aimed at FA research possibilities, and I didn't want to let you down. And second, I thought of the FA'ers facing their never ending (until a premature death) hills in life threatening their Quality of Life, and them struggling up each one just to see another beyond. From walking to walker to manual wc to joystick power wc to having someone wc for them. From keyboard typing 100 wpm to 5 wpm to using a pencil or knuckle to poke each key. And so I rode until I couldn't, and I walked until I couldn't, and then I flexed until I could again. And I made it! All 51+ miles!

3 hours and 58 minutes riding time, about 5 hours elapsed time, and an average of 13mph. And for any lesser a reason I'da been long since been in that air conditioned SAG wagon being given a lift to the finish line.

So here I am just after getting off my bike at the finish line. As I swung my leg over the seat the world's biggest cramp grabbed my rear thigh muscle. You can almost see me saying ow! ow! ow! The ladies then started poking bananas at me, shouting potassium, potassium, potassium! It woulda been pretty funny if it didn't hurt so much. lol

Here's a video clip of me at the finish. ;-)

I was so beat last night I tried to blog but couldn't think straight. We stayed at the campgrounds which was an excellent idea since neither of us would have done well breaking camp. This morning was slow so we left about 12:30pm after changing a bulging trailer tire and breaking camp.

I so appreciate the support I and Brianne have received in sponsorships! There are so many good causes and such pressure on our finances these days; who and what to support and how much to help with have become difficult questions. Whether or not you chose to sponsor us we understand and we value your prayers and good thoughts. The door by the way has not closed on helping. If you might still want to help go to
https://app.etapestry.com/fundraiser/FriedreichsAtaxiaResearchA/norcal/search.do
and click on B or P.

If you are interested in our excellent Outback lunch fundraiser on July 25th (Parents' Day) let me know!

Have a wonderful week, month and year! Exercise, eat well and for sure smile, laugh and have fun!

2010-05-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

End of the first day! Getting ready for a delicious Outback provided dinner. They are so wonderful! Got to he park at 5:30am; we both helped set up and be ready for the riders at 6:30am. 50 mile riders rolled away with fanfare shortly after 8; so did Susan! Doug brought the pedicab over at 9; Brianne showed up at 10, just 10 minutes before the 10 mile group was scheduled to leave. We got her fitted with her wheelchair seat and back with a back extension using a big bakery pan! Yes! The pedicab has a seatbelt so we threw a quick chest strap around her and off we went! Her sister Cheri rode with her to help stablize which worked well.

SHE FINISHED THE COURSE IN 1.5 HOURS, 11.9 MILES! Good for her (and the wonderful super-athlete Doug!). Most of the time I was the scout out front cautioning oncoming riders of the wide pedicab and relaying bump and hill information back to Doug. I did pedal about 2 - 3 miles and it was work! The afternoon was spent supporting the other riders, helping with cleanup and driving back up to Grass Valley. I'll talk more soon!

2010-05-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

Just finished a fun day helping the pre-work of the ride. Gotta get to bed (it's 10:45) and to be at the starting site to help set we'll get up at 3:30am. The weather tomorrow will get in the 80's by noon; pedal fast! lol

2010-05-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

Good Morning! Here just a couple of days before Ride Ataxia NorCal comes the press release that the most promising of the FA treatments being developed is now officially going into clinical trials!

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/repligen-files-investigational-new-drug-application-with-fda-for-first-drug-targeting-the-core-genetic-defect-of-friedreichs-ataxia-93666409.html

The sun is shining brighter and the air smells sweeter today! This is why we are throwing buckets of money into FA research, for the accelerated progress it causes; money is time in the FA world!

Gotta go finish packing the trailer!

:-)

2010-05-12T23:43:00.000-07:00

It's 11:45pm and the trailer is parked in front. Of course nothing is packed but we're only leaving tomorrow. ;-) Not to worry. A few more Emails then off to bed until 5am when I'll finish all the packing but clothes (Susan will be sleeping). I also need to transfer a bunch of stuff from the desktop to the laptop. :-( Time consuming.

I got a rash of registration phone calls tonight (which helped keep me from the trailer) and more new registrations. We're pushin' 160 riders now! Critical mass to make a fundraiser ride roll!

The pedicab deal is in place. Good. Friday PM for 2 hours we train on the pedicab. I am now thinking the pedicab course will be measured in hours rather than miles; the operators say it could take 3 - 6 hours to do the 10 miles, and I really don't think Brianne can sit comfortably in an improvised seat for that long. We'll see.

I am done training! lol I just ran out of time this week to do one more ride. I can just feel those muscles getting rested and primed for Saturday! Oh, yeah!

Considering my late start in fundraising I'm doing quite well. The total of online and offline donations is sitting at about $700 right now. I want to thank every one of the donors for their caring for Brianne and interest in improving her Quality of Life. The prayers being offered for success in FA research are also very much appreciated. God does listen.

We'll have the laptop with us but who knows where the wireless will be. I will try to give you updates through the weekend. Right now our schedule is:
- Arrive campground 5pm Thursday.
- Friday pick up a rental bike, mark part of the 2nd day route, drop off equipment at the park, get trained on the pedicab, get pre-registered at the Outback Steakhouse, drop off the rental bike, get back to our trailer.
- Saturday up at 4am and at the park by 5:30am, help set up, give a sendoff talk to the 25 and 50 mile riders, ride with the pedicab, then finish the 25 mile route (Susan will be working SAG), pick up the rental bike and another passenger for the ride up to Grass Valley, de-tune, eat an Outback provided dinner at 6pm and into bed.
- Sunday up at 6am and off on the 2nd day leg about 8:30am, finish about maybe 1:30pm, help clean up, take 2 passengers back up to Grass Valley, eat dinner, and drink beer with Bart Rupel (we have a date).
- Monday sleep late and return home by 5pm. Probably stop by to see my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Lucille.

Piece of Cake!! We can and will have fun, work hard, and gather baskets of money to throw into FA research! Yes!! Thanks again for supporting me.

2010-05-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

Wow! Feb 14 was a long time ago! Since then I have been continuing to ride on average 23 miles once a week, as much or more just to get the exercise as to "prepare" for this Ride Ataxia NorCal. This year I am the official RA registrar plus I volunteered to drive the RV in Team FARA's RAAM adventure coming up in June(http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam/raam.php?N_webcat_id=1). Whoo, 3,000 miles in 9 days by bicycle! These 2 projects plus numerous others have kept me away from this blog and getting sponsors to support my ride. :-( So now it is catchup time! :-)

Here's my latest and greatest plan! My wonderful oldest daughter Cheri located 4 pedicabs (bicycle powered fancy rickshaws) operated by FABA (Folsom Area Bicycle Advocates, http://www.sacbike.org/faba/pedicabs.htm) and I negotiated with them to use 2 of them on the 10 mile route to allow FAers that cannot ride a bike or trike to participate and raise funds for research! Cool! Brianne and a young man, Dylan, from Missoula, Montana will be in them and several of us will pedal them. So my Saturday will start with managing and pedaling the pedicabs. Can you can support me in this? By the way, Pedicab, pedaler and passenger combined weight is over 500lbs! I'm told the average speed is 2-3 mph; now that will take some pedaling! Just that 10 miles (http://ridewithgps.com/routes/31653) will take 3 - 5 hours of pedaling! If time permits I will then finish the 25 mile route (http://ridewithgps.com/routes/312730, another 15 miles into the foothills and return.

Then Susan will pick me up and deliver us back to the Nevada City Fairgrounds campground (we arrived with trailer on Thursday) where we will enjoy the company of all the riders (130+ total) and supporters for the evening.

Sunday I will pedal my way 51.3 miles (http://ridewithgps.com/routes/31639) back down to Folsom. Do notice it ain't all downhill!

So there's my plan! The bike's ready, I'm ready (as I'll ever be), and now, are you ready?? Go to https://app.etapestry.com/fundraiser/FriedreichsAtaxiaResearchA/norcal/individual.do?participationRef=4786.0.121601057 to be my sponsor. Or, go to https://app.etapestry.com/fundraiser/FriedreichsAtaxiaResearchA/norcal/individual.do?participationRef=4786.0.124409951 to be Brianne's sponsor!

All I want is for a treatment to be found to give Brianne a way off this road of FA she has had to follow for so long. You and I can do this.

It's a new year and another ride! WhooHoo!

2010-02-14T22:28:00.000-08:00

Just a note to let you all know the 2010 Ride Ataxia season is about to begin! The first 3 years were tied to the annual National Ataxia Foundation conference. After last year's riding in the rain, hail and cold for 3 of the 4 days the organizers looked to this year with the conference being held in Chicago, in March, and they were worried with good reason. The weather around Chicago in March is completely unpredicable and tending strongly toward really bad. It was time for a change in strategy. So they regionalized the ride so more people more locally could participate in the ride. And they dissociated the ride from the conference timing so the regional rides could optimize the seasonal timing in their area. Last October Phillie had a ride, one is planned for April in Florida and the LA area will have one this Fall. For our region, since Kyle Bryant is from the Sacramento area he took the leadership role in organizing this year's Ride Ataxia Nor Cal for May 15 - 16 starting in Folsom and swinging up to Grass Valley and back, a challenging route.

Yes, I will be riding again. My bike is hanging in there and so far so am I. The battle to defeat Friedreich's Ataxia is being won, the tide has turned in our favor with 7 FA clinical trials happening right now and more are planned soon. Now it is not that time is money, it is that money is time saved. The more money applied to the battle the sooner it is won. And Brianne needs a sooner rather than later victory in this war. So yes I will be riding.

And I hope you all will be riding with me too! This ride has always been about generous donors and gathering bunches of money to throw (intelligently) at FA. So join me by becoming a financial sponsor at
https://app.etapestry.com/fundraiser/FriedreichsAtaxiaResearchA/norcal/individual.do?participationRef=4786.0.121601057 ; click on "Sponsor Me".

Or ride with me and gather sponsors of your own for this grand bike ride!

You can get more details of the ride at http://www.rideataxia.org/norcal/ .

Enough for now. Thanks for reading! I'll write a bit more as I get organized.

2009-03-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

WhooHoo! It be over! lol We are refreshed this morning having slept in late (no interesting presentations for the first few hours this morning) and in a few minutes we will dive into the swirl of the conference with renewed vigor!

Yesterday's ride went well, 28.5 miles, designed to be shorter so we could make the triumphant entrance at 2pm. The terrain was pretty much flat into the Outback in Seattle, a place for lunch and to organize the last push. Of course it rained the whole way, ;-) , but the company was good and the pace on the slower side. Outback again outdid themselves; they have been so supportive on this ride. There were even about a dozen of them on the ride. At lunch we got the bad news, to get to the hotel we had to go over the "Mt. McKinley" of hills! 1 mile long and the first stretch a 21 degree uphill climb!! I warmed up on the 10 block ride to the hill's corner, then as I came around the corner to immediately start up the hill my front sprocket refused to go into the lowest gear! Gaaa! Struggling, muttering loudly, I only made it 3o' up before having to stop! Darn! As I was standing there trying to spin the wheel to put it in low the first trike with Sean from Alaska came around the corner. When he put it in low (his worked!) his driving wheel started spinning; he couldn't get traction on this steep grade! So I abandoned my bike (wasn't doing me any good anyway) and started pushing him up the hill. About 30 more feet up the hill I realized I had no traction either; my foot warmers with the Safeway grocery bags inside were sliding off my feet! As I stopped to pull them off two other bikers took over pushing Sean, what teamwork! When I turned around for my bike another biker was ride behind walking his and mine behind the group. Again, what a group effort! These 70-ish riders have pulled together like this the whole ride! Since this was the steepest part of the grade and I no way could mount my bike to get a start (nice excuse, eh?) I walked the bike past this first challenge and remounted just after. At the top was a pretty sight; my lovely wife giving a turn instruction and shouting encouragement! A kiss or two later off I went on the downhill leg to a church only a few blocks from the hotel. We let everyone catch up and rolled in together, trikes out front, to the roar of the welcoming crowd! Nice finish.

For me the total miles was 193.56, my max speed was28.3mph, and the average speed overall was 11.1mph. And of course the best stat is my bod supported me well through this adventure.

Below are some pics of that Lewis & Clark bridge from Day 2, the Day 4 Hill, and a couple other of Day 4 after the Hill.

I do want to thank my sponsors SO much for their financial help, and to all the folks that followed my ride and The Ride so closely, Emailing me support and prayers! All was much appreciated! The total for Ride Ataxia 3 is somewhere beyond $220,000, and some think it might get to $300,000! With matching funds from NAF and FARA we may be funding research grants of a half a million dollars as a result of this effort! Wonderful! My sponsor total is currently at $2,448, certainly more than I had envisioned! Thank you again! And of course there is still time to be a post-ride sponsor! ;-)

On to the pics!

2009-03-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

8:05am of Day 4! Last night at midnight I fell asleep in front of the computer and could not do a blog. Only have a minute! No rain yesterday!! Super! Lots more flat riding; this is what we were waiting for! lol And it was the longest ride, 62.95 miles! 20 miles flat, 30 miles a bit uphill and hilly, and then about 10 miles of more challenging riding, but we made it!

Got a bunch of pics from others last night so I'll share shortly.

Today is 28 miles with quite a few hills. We will mass a few miles from the hotel so we can all make the triumphant entry there! lol A picture opportunity.

2009-03-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

Day 2 - done! I need to correct last night's blog; the amount raised so far is $175,000, not $275,000, darn! Too rummy last night.

Our day started at 7:55am as Susan dropped me off outside Bob's Cycle Shop in Longview, WA to wait for the shop to open at 9:00am. As I put my riding stuff under the overhang a car stopped and the man called out "Whatcha doing?" so I replied "I'm waiting for Bob", to which he replied "I'm Bob"! He let me in, got me coffee and we talked about his store, FA and Ride Ataxia for some time while waiting for his bike tech. A really nice guy and a really nice store! So Genece arrives and whips through my bike! In only a short time she's determined not only my shifter cable is broken but also the cable holder in the shifter. Whip, whip and there's a new shifter with cable, brake adjusted and front shifter better aligned. Now you might think I was outta there spiff-spot but first I talked more to Genece and Paul about the ride and FA. So now there's 3 more good people in the world aware and informed about FA! ;-) I even met Bob Sr. the founder.

So I get on the road at 9:45am! 43.2 miles to go and I"m behind the pack. I've decided since I'm way back I might as well let it out to see what I might do; usually I'm in the back giving help and support. So I give it my best for 21.9 miles to lunch. 1 hour and 49 minutes, and average speed of 12.1mph. I did catch one good downhill for a max speed of 28.3mph. Can you believe I only burned 950 calories?? Felt like 4,000. Yesterday's forecast was "rain" and it rained 80% of the day; today it was "showers" so it only rained 50% of the day! Cold (46 degrees at 9:45am, 63 degrees at about noon and 50 degrees at 2pm), so cold. The rain suit kept the rain out but I sweated right through all my clothes which then were chilly. But if I had not worn the rain suit the wind and rain would have frozen me.

Last night the crew said today would be rolling hills through the morning; what they forgot to say was each suceeding rolling hill was higher than the last! lol We worked hard today! The second 21-ish miles was easier than the first, but after lunch I stayed back with the groups that enjoyed the outdoors and weren't in much rush to finish the ride. We got in at 3pm. PM stats: 21.23 miles, 2 hours and 9 minutes, average speed 9.9mph. Day's calories - 1776.

Dr. Lynch arrived about 5pm to claim his bike and will ride with "us" tomorrow he says. We ate in an operating train station this evening with Outback once again. Here are a few pics from the first two days and an Utube clip a friend of ours, Donald, took at the ride start. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPAkq2D3ucE&feature=email

Let's see if I will survive 62 miles tomorrow! lol

2009-03-16T22:39:00.000-07:00

It is late and Day 2 starts at 8:30am but for me at 8am; more on that below. Today, Day 1, we rode from downtown Portland to Kelso, OR, a distance of 58.95 miles. Whew! We started riding at 8:45am and for the first hour at least wound our way through Portland. Not fast and a bit hairy with 70 riders and all the traffic. I averaged 11mph overall and the day's ride took me 5 hours and 21 minutes.

It started to rain just before we left and continued about 80% of the day. My Friedman's Hardware rain suit worked well. It was also 45 degrees so the windbreaker effect was welcome. Of course over the course of the day I sweated profusely so all the clothes are hanging up drying. Also by the end of the day my shoes and feet were soaked. I have a second pair for tomorrow and a second dry strategy; plastic bags inside the foot warmers.

I rode with Sean with his trike for the first 2 hours and 17 miles. He ran out of steam and took a car ride to lunch. Then I rode with Sandy, Amy and Mary until lunch. After lunch we had our first casulty, Karen somehow had her tires slide out on a railroad crossing. Police and ambulance responded. Several stitches over her eye, a bad wrist sprain and some lower back pain; mmm, not good. I think a few more slipped but did not hurt themselves as badly.

We had quite a lot of flats today; I missed that adventure. Repairing tires in the rain was not fun.

The two worst spots today were in the vicinity of the Lewis and Clark bridge over the Columbia River. About 4-ish miles south on US30 is a looong uphill that is a killer! Then crossing the very high and steep bridge in a rainstorm with hail, sleet and 30 mph winds, together with riding in the roadway with manical truck drivers wasn't fun. Adding to it for me was my rear shifter started to bind up requiring much strength to get one gear change at a time. I couldn't get below 4th gear which took a lot of riding leverage away. But I made it. I had a young man with bike repair experience look at it today and in the process of trouble shooting the shifter wire broke. Susan will be taking me into the repair shop at 8am to wait for them to open at 9am to fix it. Well I'm off to bed. I'm certainly earning those sponsorships! lol Thank you all! BTW, Kyle announced we're at $275,000 now! Awesome! With that, good night!

2009-03-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

So, it's close to 10pm, Susan and I are tucked into bed consciously not listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops outside our window. Pretty cool here in Portland today, plenty of rain and plenty of wind too. Went to the airport at noon to pick up Marion and wound up with 4 others! lol Everyone arriving noonish to be at the Outback lunch by 1pm. Lunch was great. Kyle shared the rider count is at 70 and it snowed in Seattle today (And I left my knobby tires at home!) We all split up until tomorrow at 7am and the ride beginning at 9am. I am still working on several rain plans and worrying about some of the others that may be underestimating the rain effect.

My riding plan now is to hang back the first day to talk with and support the slowest group. Then Tuesday I will push myself more if there's anything left to push lol. We're getting up at 4:50am so I'll sign off now. Thanks again to all my sponsors and supporters!

2009-03-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

Last message until Sunday night after the Outback kickoff lunch. Sonoma Mountain was tough today. Only 4 days since our last ride we kept telling each other. Toward the top when I was low on oxygen and the "red mist" and blurred vision (Honest!) started I started wondering at 63 when you tear down muscle through exercise do you have enough testoserone to rebuild it?? It wasn't feeling like it! lol Then I thought of 4 days in a row, mmm.

The computer calibration worked like a charm. Temperature when we started was 43 degrees. At the top mileage was 3.8 miles, max speed - 17mph, average speed - 6mph and I don't remember the elapsed wheels turning time. I'll see if Dave remembers tomorrow. It took a while. ;-) Back at the house total miles was 7.591 miles, max speed - 25mph, average speed - 8.7mph (average on the way back was over 12mph) and time was 52 minutes - 18 seconds.

The radio worked great on the level but it was irritating to me as I was struggling up the steep grades. Finally unplugged it. I guess it interferred with my concentration?

Well, that's it! I'm trained! Guffaw! Talk to you again in Portland!

2009-03-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

We made the new, improved and latest goal of $2,000! Thank you to all that have sponsored me, or thought of sponsoring me and couldn't for whatever life limiting reason (and there are lots of them out there right now). I, Brianne and the whole FA community around the world (and yes I am plugged into a number of them and indeed they are thankful!) thank you all so much. You are all so wonderful! There are numbers of good basic research ideas and one or more of them will hold the answer; money is the key now. The more money the faster the research pace. So, now should I move the goal to $3,000?? Mmm, I think not. Moving it once because I was too conservative, maybe, but now I think we'll just see how much higher it will go on its own!

Kyle Bryant reported last evening Ride Ataxia (of which your money is part) has reached its goal of $100,000!! Wow! A hecka bunch more money for research! Mmm, should he raise the goal?? lol Naw, let's also see how high that total will go!

Kyle also said pray for good weather! lol I guess the extended forecast is looking gloomy. We will ride on in whatever weather! C'mon Advil and Vit C!

My bike is ready! I finished it today.
- Susan just rolled her eyes, but she keeps making me things to help. Yesterday she made me a beanie from the same stretchy material my arm/leg warmers are made of. It goes accross my forehead, down over my ears (barely), and accross the back of my neck. This compliments the smaller top 'o the head one she did Saturday. So, if it's really cold, on with the ski hood, at 40-ish swap for the beanie, up to 45 - 50 and the smaller top goes in. how will I know when you ask? The thermometer in my cycling computer of course! lol
- The raised handlebars and rearview mirrors, not to mention the headlight and single rear LED flasher will keep me safe and upright.
- The Konanz don't-stop-'til-you-drop hydration system (long aquarium tube stuck in the drilled out top of my water bottle) works flawlessly.
- Today I tuned in the cycling computer's odometer calibration so I will be able to give you exact max and average speeds, miles traveled, elapsed time, and, a running tally of how hot or cold it is throughout the ride! Whew, maybe communicaton/information overload, eh?
- Finally, saving the best for last, I dug out my $1 garage-sale-brand-new-sealed-in-the-box armband jogging radio and have afixed it to the right upright of the raised handle bar! Sweet! If only it were bluetooth! lol
See if you can find all my goodies in these pics!

Tomorrow morning Dave and I take on Sonoma Mountain one last time before I leave for Portland. I may wear my rain gear just to see if it disinegrates in the first 2 miles or if it has terminal tight spots. :-)

Paul

2009-03-06T15:28:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a week since I've written and a week since I've ridden! My bike is ready. I put the finishing touches on it last night; headlight and red flasher rear light, and after my free computer wouldn't work I bought one! :-)

We rode the Sebastopol run this morning and everything hummed. Good pace and no chain shifting problems at all. I like this. No black oil on the fingers. The cycling computer says I went 17.4 miles at an average 13.5mph and achieved a max speed of 20.5mph (musta been downhill and a stiff back wind!). All this took me 1 hour and 17 minutes. I have some reservations about the timer accuracy that I have to check out but with this performance a day's ride might be right at 4 hours; only a half a day's work! Now I just have to work on not wanting to go directly to bed after each ride! lol One more training ride next Tuesday then on with the adventure!

We leave next Friday for Portland, will visit with our long time friend Jo and her new hubbie Donald, have an organizational lunch Sunday provided by Outback Restaurants (do patronize them please, they do wonderful community donations all the time!), and then Monday morning it starts! Stay tuned.

2009-02-27T19:08:00.000-08:00

The fenders are on, tested and reinforced! lol Not as cool looking now but there'll be no mud stripes in my future. Took on the 920' rise of Roberts Rd. this AM but neither Dave nor I must have been fully recovered from Tuesday; we could see our end point but that last uphill was just too daunting! The 2 mile downhill coast is always fun! A driver stopped to say Dave's gray backpack and light blue denins made him almost invisible on the narrow one lane each way hill country road. We'll need to do something. My purple/yellow/blue windbreaker works reasonably.

The rear fender was too flexible so this PM I reinforced it. Perfect now. Then I went through the bike, focusing on shifting hesitation and chain sticking. I found the whole drive train needed a thorough cleaning and a minor front sprocket adjustment. It pedals sweetly now! I put a halogen bike light on it for oncoming safety. I need to find a good LED flasher for the rear traffic. Unfortunately the wheel fork sending unit for a wireless bike computer I acquired is not working; darn. I had hopes to track miles, speed, etc; something to do while you're pedaling, pedaling, pedaling. Finished the day splitting wood, mowing the yard and preparing for the next rain onslaught. It's an Advil evening. :-)

We made the $1,000 goal yesterday! Yesss!! Thank you, all my sponsors! I didn't expect so much generousity so soon! We still have a bit more than 2 weeks to the ride! So then today Brianne said I was a Wuss, and said I had to raise the goal. So now it's $2,000! And we are already $1,353 toward that! I'm thrilled!

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are rain days, and it's time I tested my inexpensive rain gear. More on that later.

By the way, my apologies for the requirement on this blog site to have a membership to Google, Yahoo, or AIM to follow the blog. I was told that was not the case. Sorry.

Paul

2009-02-24T22:28:00.000-08:00

Next level! Today I rode 16 miles to Graton and returned to our starting spot, then rode 13 miles home; 29 miles! Head wind for the 13 miles; oh may I have a tail wind for Ride Ataxia!

On the way home I bought a set of fenders; that rain is sounding real! lol

Thank you to all my sponsors! I am at 90% of goal already! I know, "ye of little faith" Konanz you'll be calling me! Hugs to you all!

Paul

2009-02-23T12:44:00.000-08:00

Just got back from the Ford dealership with a pile of schematics! On the way home with the light rain I thought wistfully of trying out my rain gear; oh well.

Correction to the mileage estimate from yesterday. I used MapQuest which did the shortest route. Duh! We bikers will not be on the interstate freeways, so there's 30 more miles! 192 miles is almost the 200 miles I first estimated.
Day 1: 57.4 miles
Day 2: 42 miles
Day 3: 62.7 miles
Day 4: 29 miles
Total is 192 miles!

Gotta go do the van!

2009-02-22T15:20:00.000-08:00

After 3pm; missed my "next level" ride Saturday to work on Brianne's van battery systems. Still not fixed. Sigh, oh for the right repair manual! lol "Next level" was to be riding with "only" one day of rest. Today it's raining cats and dogs; no, that's NOT my "next level".

Today I got a more detailed itinerary. Starting at Portland:
Monday after 48 miles: Kelso
Tuesday after 37 miles: Chehalis
Wednesday after 53 miles: Puyallup
Thursday after 24 miles: Seattle!

Piece of cake: the 200 miles is now "only" 162 miles! I've already gone 38 miles! Sort of.

For Portland-local folk that might like to be at the sendoff, we gather at 7am earliest and leave the OHSU Center for Health and Healing, 3303 SW Bond Ave. at 9am.

Regards,

2009-02-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

Installed my toe clips at 8am; took off with full biking cold weather regalia at 9am! I am close to being ready (except for not being in shape. lol)! Kit (riding shorts and zipup shirt), arm/leg/shoe/head warmers, sippy-tube water system, cool elevated handle bars, sweats, and windbreaker. Tested everything this morning in the 40 - 45 degree weather; worked great! One leg warmer initially kept sliding down my leg but once I started sweating it stuck nicely. I swapped the elevated handle bars side to side because my hands didn't like the angle they gripped the bars at. Now the elevated bars are right over the lower hand grips. Perfect!

To finish my prep I'll buy a better looking pair of sweat pants and see if I can make the speedometer/odometer module I have work. Weeks ahead and I'll be ready to go! Now to line up some more sponsors to make this even more worthwhile!

Paul

2009-02-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

Hooo-Haa! (from Scent of a Woman; what a rascal that colonel was!) pretty well sums up where I'm at and where I'm goin'! This is my new blog and I have a new Ride Ataxia fundraising site (see above), lots of optimism and we're keeping the thermastat low at home to help me acclimate for the coming ride! lol

Thank you for coming to this blog site and for being interested in Ride Ataxia and my small part in it. If you choose to help sponsor me in this ride I thank you [it's tax deductible ;-) ], and if you choose not to I hope you have somewhere else you are sharing some of yourself with your community.

3 years ago a young man with late onset Friedreich's Ataxia (FA) rode a recumbent trike 2400 miles from San Diego, CA to Memphis, TN to bring visibility to FA. His family went with him and he gained supporters as he rode accross the country. Last year he and more supporters rode almost 700 miles from Sacramento to Las Vegas. Because of his effort FA researchers were given about $350,000 over the 2 years! Now about 50 or more riders in the 3rd annual Ride Ataxia ride from Portland to Seattle where the 2009 NAF Conference will be held; 500+ ataxia-interested people gathering to learn, talk and network about ataxia.

Why am I riding? Easy; here's my reason. If my daughter Brianne can continue living life abundantly
after 22 years with FA I can certainly ride 4 days in the cold and rain! (I am praying for sunshine though!)

So, how am I doing??

- Last year I rode two 50-mile Ride Ataxia legs separated by 11 days; my buns had recovered by the second leg and the new seat (I wore the fabric off the nose of the first seat -ouch!) worked well. Temperatures ranged from 60 - 75 degrees. Since my preparation consisted of pulling the bike out of the garage and filling the tires with air I considered my 10mph average and lots of good conversation a real success!

- This year the 4 days in a row plus cold/rain/headwind have me a little nervous; so the FreeCycle mountain bike has been out of the garage for awhile.

* Averaged one 16 mile ride a week -Hey! That's good!

* Knobby tires replaced with road "slicks"

* Another new seat with a groove toward the front! ;-)

* My hands were going numb after an hour so my bro-in-law Mike (thank you Mike!!) welded extension hand grips atop my extender bars so I can sit higher. I know, I can't reach the brakes! No problem; I'm not stopping anyhow! lol

* Replaced my acquarium tube sucker straw with a new one;

black stuff growing in it; yecht. Who needs a Camelbak?!

* Yesterday bought a rain suit! Just in case.

* My lovely Susan sewed arm and leg warmers, plus foot warmers with the scraps!

So, I'm just about ready! Susan will drive the truck as part of the support crew and I will keep her number on my cell speed dial. Between now and our departure for Portland I will post a few more times to keep y'all up to date on my "intensive" training regimen. Tomorrow Dave Wait and I again take on Robert's Road and Sonoma Mountain. 920 feet elevation increase in 1.5 miles; we may not go far but we bust our buns doing it! lol Don't forget my other website: http://www.active.com/donate/rideataxia/PKonanz ! ;-) God bless, and have an adventuous day!